Finding Sanctuary in Nature: Simple Ceremonies in the Native American Tradition for Healing Yourself and Others

Preface

This book was written not to indoctrinate readers into a particular way of viewing the world but to offer a broader way of seeing that can be the basis for healing and wholeness of individuals and the Earth. There is no one way, since as individuals we must each find our own way. We are all Children of Earth and Sky, beings with incredible powers, but in our society the innate abilities of people are often not acknowledged or appreciated. While I was growing up in the 1950s, shamanism or the medicine way was not recognized in mainstream America, and there weren’t many avenues for children with the ability to see in dreams, foretell the future, or divine the way of things.

Fortunately, this situation is changing and methods are now taught for developing innate abilities and unique visions. Most are categorized as New Age, though many are thousands of years old. With the advent of new media—twenty-four-hour satellite and cable television, the Internet, e-mail, and Web sites—the world appears to be shrinking and the transmission of information has become instantaneous. The Internet may indeed be the precursor for a time when we all will be connected in a grid of common communication and understanding using the expanded abilities of what we now call shamanism or the medicine way, as suggested by ancient prophecies. Until then, it behooves each of us to develop as best we can, learning as much as possible, and becoming men and women of knowledge.

Over the years, it has been an honor and a privilege to have had teachers from various Native American tribes, including Cherokee, Choctaw, Yokuts, Lakota, Mayan, Iroquois, and Dine, along with some followers of Eastern spiritual paths. One of my teachers, Reiki master William Lee Rand, who founded the International Center for Reiki Training, said that he approached Reiki as a skeptic, desiring to see if it worked before adopting it. Indeed, the real test of any training or practice is its ability to empower you, provide a means for understanding life’s many energetic forces, lead to a supportive view of life and the world, and foster the development of innate abilities to the highest capacity. The purpose of this book is to help readers achieve each of these goals well enough to clarify their unique vision.

A major concern in writing this book was how best to present Native American traditions and their role in today’s world. I ultimately decided to avoid giving specific information about tribal ceremonies for three reasons: specific ceremonies belong to their respective, specific tribes; the ceremonies would have little meaning or power for people unfamiliar with the tribal traditions; and the book’s purpose is to help you find your ownceremonies, practices that have special meaning for you and give you your own power.

Many people today with no personally meaningful ceremonies in their lives adopt the ceremonies of others, hoping for empowerment. But that is a false hope and it would be fruitless to aid in that path. For example, there is a beautiful and effective Cherokee curing ceremony that involves calling the Deer Spirits to aid in a patient’s recovery that could have been set down in this book. But without the understanding of the words or the cultural milieu in which the ceremony originated, one speaking the indecipherable words and performing the unfathomable actions would not allow for connecting with the necessary healing Powers; the gap between the worlds would be too great. That’s because it is people who give power to words and actions. Just as prayers from the heart have power because they carry intent, ceremonies require they are performed in concert with the Creator and therefore consummated with full awareness.

At the same time, the anger expressed by many Native Americans about their ceremonies being stolen by outsiders or tainted by their use of them often derives from a lack of understanding regarding the positive role these ancient traditions can play in today’s world. Such individuals view their heritage as a possession that can be stolen when in fact heritage cannot be stolen—although it can become lost. Ceremonies that have become meaningful only as historical or cultural artifacts will definitely be lost; the ways practiced and lived, on the other hand, will change, like all living things. Outsiders who adopt native ways and use them for a little while before passing them on may in fact be contributing in a positive way to this change. The ancient ceremonies are not museum pieces, dead and lifeless, unless we make them so by robbing them of their vitality by keeping them as objects, rather than honoring them as living, changing, and growing through use and expression. People who understand the ancient ways should delight in seeing them flourish everywhere and grow stronger.

Additionally, some people complain that the ceremonies being practiced today are not authentic enough. When at a recent Green Corn Festival a man complained about this, I asked him how committed he was to precisely following the ancient traditions. Was he prepared to strip naked in front of the gathering and be scratched from head to toe with a seven-toothed comb until his blood ran freely? Was he willing to set aside a week to ten days every three months for fasting, prayer, and dancing all day and night, not just on occasional weekends and the few days he could get off work? Was he ready to go into the woods and kill deer for the people, cutting out the animals’ tongues for sacred ceremony? Practicing the old ceremonies in the old way reflects a commitment to perpetuating a lifestyle, whereas adapting the ceremonies to today’s world reflects a promise to honor the spirit of the ancestors by carrying their teachings forward to new generations. Longevity of the old ways, as opposed to hidebound authenticity, is the greater gift and is achieved by continually giving life to them so they may flourish everywhere, among all people, and thus endure.

Suzanne Dupree, a Miniconjou Sioux pipe carrier known as Looking Back Woman, has spoken out about how protection of the ancient ways is being used to lend them an exclusivity that is at odds with their true nature. She notes that in the old days, women shared spiritual power with men and were given the duty of ensuring the continuation of sacred ways from generation to generation. But today, she points out, most medicine people are men who are making decisions without the input of women, including the elder women—the traditional wisdom keepers of the tribes—even though it was a woman, White Buffalo Calf Woman, who gave the sacred pipe to the Lakota people.

Further, Dupree has decried such edicts as the Protection of Ceremonies, in which a number of Lakota men, not a single woman among them, proclaimed that only people who were Lakota or Sioux Oyate (people) and carried certificates of blood quantum issued by the federal government could perform or authorize ceremonies, and that they must be conducted in Lakota, stating:

How can anyone say who is or is not qualified to perform ceremonies? Is it not the Creator who touches one’s heart and calls them to the altar? By demanding language, blood quantum, and other self-serving requirements, dogma and doctrine are being injected into our spiritual ways where none existed for thousands of years. We must not tell people what they must believe.

By closing the door to our faith and ancient rites to outsiders, the Proclamation closes the Sacred Hoop that is supposed to include all life. Instead of having compassion for the thousands of people worldwide who sincerely wish to learn the ceremonies, they are met with a closed fist. Instead of taking the awesome task to teach them, the writer of the Proclamation wants to corner the market and dictate who may or may not come into the circle.¹

It is imperative for the survival of our world that medicine teachings be shared, as the late Frank Fools Crow, an Oglala medicine man, said: Survival of the world depends on our sharing what we have, and working together. If we do not, the whole world will die. First the planet, and next the people.²

Nor was or is he alone in this view. As White Bison, the native wellbriety group, has stressed over the years, native people were given knowledge of the natural world in order to share it, and were told by the Creator in ancient times: You will be keepers of Mother Earth. Among you I will give the wisdom about nature, about the interconnectedness of all things, about balance, and about living in harmony. You Red People will see the secrets of nature. You will live in hardship and the blessing of this is you will stay close to the Creator. The day will come when you will need to share the secrets with the other people of the Earth because they will stray from their spiritual ways.³

The late Mad Bear Anderson, an Iroquois medicine man, emphasized how Native American spirituality could function to mediate between religions of the East and West, thereby increasing harmony on Earth: The Eastern religions represent spirituality that looks inward. The Western religions represent spirituality that tends to look outward. We are the people whose spirituality is of the middle. We stand for the sacrality of Nature, for the sacred ways of the Earth. Therefore, we can be mediators between East and West, reminding the others that Nature is holy and full of the Great Spirit.⁴

Peter V. Catches, a 38th generation Lakota medicine man who today carries forward the ancient teachings of the Spotted Eagle Way, has explained: Living in a world full of prejudice, we have to look inward to find the true nature of ourselves. Now is the time to change and move toward enlightenment, to extinguish our old fears of one another. When the beacon of loving light burns bright in our once dark and lonely domain, we will beat the drums of unity and shout its songs.⁵

None other than the late Martha Bad Warrior, keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle of the Sioux Oyate, said, This heritage is such as to be open in the good of all mankind, regardless of race, creed, color…⁶

These leading voices of Native American people of the past and present should be heeded, and history tells us why. For the past five hundred years, Western culture has dominated the Earth with its values of patriarchy, materialism, exclusion, domination, and hierarchy, resulting in serious imbalances. Consequently, the native ways, which stress balance through inclusion, coexistence, and unity, are sorely needed in the world today.

We each must come forward to share what we know. My name, Nvnehi Awatisgi (Cherokee, new-nay-hee a-WAT-is-gee) was given to me by a Keetowah (Cherokee) spiritual elder. It is both a name and an obligation. It means, one who finds the path; and it is usually given to someone who has been down many paths, good ones and not-so-good ones, so that counsel may be trusted based on wisdom and experience. In native way, one of the greatest honors a person may receive is to be given a name that was carried well by someone in the past. This name was held by a Cherokee chief who died in 1827, and led his people well. But the name also has a higher purpose, or spiritual impetus. Path, nvnehi, also means the immortals. It is the obligation of the person who holds this name not only to help others find the best path for them, but the highest path, the path to the immortals. That is my hope and prayer with this book.

Although the title of the book says these teachings are in the Native American tradition, there are many traditions, as many as there were tribes, bands, and peoples before European conquest. The ceremonies presented, and others like them, emphasize the positive qualities of inclusion, unity, and spirituality—and thus can help us bring balance to ourselves and our Earth. These principles are in fact at the heart of all major religious traditions, though they may be overshadowed by various political prejudices and practices. They are in nature and in our nature, waiting only to be tapped to provide sanctuary, healing, and wholeness.

Wisatologi nihil (Many blessings on your path!)

Getting Started

The world we inhabit is filled with spaces that hold turmoil or peace, sorrow or happiness. Some places can make us feel chaotic and troubled, while others have us feeling serene and uplifted. But we are not mere puppets of the forces around us, subject to energies beyond our control. We can choose our realities, finding the source of creation within and allowing it to radiate out into the physical world, reordering our environments. Similarly, we can actively create spaces in nature that promote serenity, healing, and wholeness in order to have sanctuary.

Although the stereotype of nature is a wilderness scene, wherever we might be, whether in a rural area or the most populated city, nature is all around, as well as within, us. And around us nature can be found not only in landscapes such as mountains, beaches, oceans, deserts, prairies, lakes, streams, hills, and jungles, but also in backyards, vacant city lots, and even garden rooms or potted plants in homes or office interiors.

The key to finding sanctuary in nature for a healing space and tranquility is in how we connect with nature, both internally and externally. To create a meaningful connection, it is necessary to recognize that you yourself contain forces of nature and to understand how the forces of nature within you interact with the forces of nature without. Ultimately, finding sacred spaces in nature to do simple ceremonies for healing yourself and others does not require esoteric skills or the intervention of an expert. Anyone can connect with the powerful forces of nature internally and externally through the assistance of guides and spirit helpers, which requires only comprehension of the spiritual principles involved, a few tools that are easily obtained or fashioned, and knowledge of some basic techniques. All that is needed to be successful are an open mind and heart and a willingness to face the unknown so you can come home to nature.

This book provides information about the principles, tools, and techniques necessary to help you harness the power of nature for making healing ceremonies. Included are instruction and exercises to develop